Careful changes
Preface: Most renovation briefs are written as additions: more space, more light, more storage. The better projects usually begin by taking something away.
The one move
Most renovation briefs are written as additions: more space, more light, more storage. The better projects usually begin by taking something away.
A blocked-up chimney, a dropped ceiling, a partition added in the 1980s. Remove the accretions first and the house often tells you what it wants to be.
The one move
On this terrace the single decision was to open the return between the kitchen and the old scullery, keeping the chimney breast as a thick, load-bearing pier rather than erasing it.
That pier now anchors the room. The cooker sits against it, the light falls past it, and the plan reads as one space without pretending the wall was never there.
About the author
Polina Morova is an architect and writer based in East London. She runs PMO, a small studio focused on careful renovation.